Mud guards are well known for guarding against various road debris thrown rearwardly from the wheels of a vehicle by being positioned rearwardly of the wheels to catch the thrown debris. On towing vehicles in particular it is desirable to provide mud guards, otherwise known as tow guards or tow flaps and the like, which extend substantially the full width of the vehicle to catch the debris being thrown rearward towards a towed object to in turn protect the towed object.
When not towing an article behind the towing vehicle however, it is desirable to remove the tow guard as it is cumbersome and unattractive in appearance. Known designs of tow guards typically require the entire assembly to be removed which can be awkward and time consuming.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,900 by Syska et al, U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,808 by Walters, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,431 by Anderson disclose examples of mud guards which can be retracted, however the configuration in each instance is particularly suited for larger industrial vehicle and are thus generally too large and cumbersome for passenger vehicles. Furthermore, the mounting configuration in each instance is not well suited for accommodating a large variety of different vehicles.